How did you keep babies warm years ago?

[GarlicCrackers]

Posting here for traffic and visibility.

Also maybe a slight AIBU for being totally ignorant and naive!!

I am due my second child in Feb, due to recent events with my dearest wanker of a half - I am now single and my first thought was, well I better reduce the energy bill if I want to financially survive.

I am 33 so have never lived without central heating and modern amenities.

Sat down, looked at electrics, you know vampire devices, plugs that get left on. Moved on to heating. I like being cool, I dislike the heat so I think well hot water bottle at night and wear my oodie during the day. Heating off at night and we will all be fine. Will have the dogs upstairs and we can all share heat.

and then I remember….I’m pregnant, I’m due a baby in cold cold February. Babies can’t regulate heat they are tiny.

How did we keep babies warm before CH? I have grobags and blankets. Can they have hot water bottles? I can’t afford heating on all night but dear god will I get into energy debt if that’s my only choice

I know this sounds stupid, I just realised I have no idea. I see people talk about how no heating = constant chest infections etc

@ancientgran, I remember Liberty bodices! Horrible things. IIRC only ever had them when I was very small, though - say until 4 or 5.

3 winter babies here, never ever had the heating on at night.

Vest, fleecy babygrow, swaddled in one blanket and tucked in with another cellular blanket over them. Slept beautifully.

THE GINA FORD WAY! (not sorry :)

(And I’m not old)

Just read some of the comments.

Please don’t put a hat on a newborn baby at night 😵‍💫

I’m not sure how my baby survived 10 yrs ago in a house without central heating. I’m not sure what the temperature in the room was, but certainly not 21 deg at night.

I used a vest, baby gro and a 2.5 tog grobag.

Are you genuinely saying that babies can't sleep at 18/19 degrees? Of course they can! It's only about that right now and it's more than warm enough

I was born late 1960s, no central heating, open coal fire, we lived in London, terraced house.
We had sheets and blankets on the beds, if the weather was really bad my mum would layer overcoats on top of the beds, we had ice on the inside of the windows.
In the morning my mum and dad would get up before us and Stoke up the fire, our school uniforms would hang on a clothes horse in front of the fire to warm up, we'd fly downstairs in our nighties and get in front of the fire and eat breakfast in our laps then get dressed in front of the fire.
I don't think you need to worry too much, your baby won't freeze.
Although I understand your concern with the rise in heating bills.
My DD was born in the late 80s, again no central heating, she never froze.
I've never had the heating on overnight, you warm up when you get into bed

You do not need the heating in overnight! We never never do. And the temp of a thermostat is 18 during the day! Always has been. All 4 babies have been absolutely fine in a baby sleeping bag, vest and baby gro - albeit one with thicker sleeves. I’m gobsmacked by how hot some people have their houses, so must all be sweltering all the time!

I am absolutely NOT saying the energy crisis isn’t a disaster, I’m very worried about it, but be completely reassured, that no heating on overnight, is not dangerous to your baby. Ours has always gone off at 10pm, but in at 6am (and then off again between 8am and 4pm!)

Suffocation from sleeping piston, unsafe blanket use etc is not the same as SIDS.

And my youngest child is 4 - I’m not talking ancient history! Right now, we don’t have overnight heating (and never have) - what a waste!

Layers are the key, OP. Several thin layers trap air which is then warmed by and kept close to the body. One thick layer doesn't do this in the same way.

Who has the heating on all night?!

Just dress them warmly

It’s very unlikely your baby will get too cold.
A bigger risk if you don’t use heating at all is that your home becomes damp and mouldy.
we never have heating at night, the house generally only drops to 15, maybe 13 at worst overnight. We prioritise heating 6-8am to warm the house up and for the day to ensure it doesn’t get damp.

I grew up in a house without central heating, it was a 1870s house with high ceilings and 7ft doors, no double glazing either.What we did have was gas fires in some rooms and an open fire in the sitting room - though we didn't always use that room, we had a snug at the back of the house (originally the butlers pantry) and it was kept warm with a gas fire in the winter and we all sat in their snuggled up

I had a gas fire in my bedroom and that was put on for 30 minutes in the morning and Id run to the bathroom and wash in the sink - face feet and fanny, then run back to the warm bedroom to get dressed - then turn off the fire and run downstairs to the kitchen - which was also kept warm.

We didn't heat the halls or landing and doors were kept shut to rooms. Constant shouting from grown ups - "shut the door and keep the heat in" we used one room at a time.

I then moved to a house without central heating and again a gas fire in the lounge and a storage heater on the landing - this heated the entire house

Consequently I now live with ventral heating at 18 degrees and find anything hotter uncomfortable, stuffy and drying is how I would describe.

I have a portable thermostat which makes a big difference to my heating bill and the feel of the house. If I keep all the doors closed on every rooms and then take the thermostat to each room I am in - its heats that room only to 18 degrees and then cuts out - leaving the rest of the house very cool. I don't try and heat the entire house, just one rooms to be comfortable.

yesterday a heating engineer said a great way to to save heating costs is to turn off radiators in 50% of the house - so bedrooms and dinning rooms etc and just heat the room you are sitting in.

This way you will save 50% of your heating bill and still be warm.
The theory is the same - stop trying to heat the whole house, just one rooms at a time. a family of 4 can use lap tops and head phones if they down' all want to watch the same programs etc and all stay in the same room until bedtime

Constant shouting from grown ups - "shut the door and keep the heat in"

Ah the memories! And "take your coat off indoors or you won't feel the benefit".

Well, you did ask!

My two youngest brothers were born at home in a draughty farmhouse in September and December. Mother had a fire in the bedroom, but only for the birth and lying-in. This was jn the 1960s, but if you can find a copy of the Ahlbergs' 'Peepo', you will see the general look.

They wore: a binder that wrapped around them until the stump of the navel knot fell off.; long-sleeved woollen wrap vests, with an envelope neck or tied at the hip with little tapes; (brand name Cherub). Muslin nappies, inside Terry towelling nappies, folded in triangles and pinned with one large nappy pin in front. Plastic/rubber pants over that. Full-length flannelette 'nighties' for day and night for the first few days, Woollen mitten and bootees. Viyella fabric for sewn garments. Embroidery on yokes of the long garments, and on the little coatees, put on for visitors for whom babies were taken out of the snuggly warm carrycot beside the bed.

When they were brought downstairs at a few days old, they gradually graduated to knitted woollen leggings and matinee jackets, woollen bonnets for going out. Wool and layers was the answer. Babies were kept 'well wrapped up" and we were always looking for their mittens! All mothers and grans and aunties knitted for new babies, and big sister tried to.

The house had natural ventilation (draughts) but was kept warm in places. Babies slept in the pram downstairs in the winter, till adults went to bed. Bathing them was done in front of the open fire, behind a screen of towels on a clothes horse.

I didn't know I could remember so much! You'll all be fine. Babies grow up all over the world, in all sorts of homes. Good luck.

Heating on all night? My baby was born January this year. We never did that. Ideal temp for sleep for them is between 16-20 degrees C. It never went below that with the heating off at night.

That won't be the case in many homes though. Buildings vary, living conditions vary and as usually is the case the poorest lose out by poor living conditions and higher costs due to those conditions.

Safe cosleeping usually advocates alternatives to duvets and blankets eg skinny sleeping bags or sleep suits and chunky cardigans etc.

Have a room thermometer and follow this guide for how to dress baby according to temp www.babycentre.co.uk/a25024140/what-should-my-baby-wear-at-night-infographic

This.

Sleeping bag, baby gro and cellular blankets.

@Oldcottoneye freeze to death at 18/19 degrees? Wtf are you talking about ??? Baffled !

Who can't sleep at 18/19 degrees? I'd suffocate if the room were so warm, my windows are open almost every night, I recall waking up to snow of the window sill! People managed to keep their babies safe long before central heating and double glazing etc., they were dressed in warm layers and had a wool blanket usually.

I'd really struggle to sleep with the house as hot at 18/19 in winter. It's completely different to summer. Your body expects a drop in temperature at night to help you sleep. If my heating is at 16 in the evening when I am in jeans and jumper, then I will need it cooler than that to sleep under a quilt.

I agree, ds is 21 and that wasn't new guidelines even back then.